The CEO is stepping down later this year, as previously reported. He comes from Ticino, the southernmost Swiss canton which is coping with the most serious coronavirus epidemic in the Alpine state.

The outgoing chief executive of UBS, Sergio Ermotti, has reportedly donated SFr1.0 million ($1.03 million) of his personal wealth to coronavirus victims, primarily those living in his home canton of Ticino, southern Switzerland.

The canton, which is adjacent to Italy, is the Swiss area most severely affected by the pandemic. Talking to Swiss publication Blick, Ermotti, who announced that he was stepping down from UBS a month ago after about a decade in the job, said that he was deeply affected by the crisis. 

Ermotti paid money for coronavirus relief efforts into his family foundation, which was established in 2011 with his wife, sister and brother, the publication said. 

Separately, Switzerland’s biggest bank provided a fund with SFr30 million for coronavirus victims in Switzerland and worldwide. The crisis, which has been devastating in Italy, highlights how even the most prosperous parts of the world have been hit hard. 

Ermotti - who as reported here is stepping down as CEO later this year - predicts that the crisis will endure for some time. “Unfortunately everything else is wishful thinking,” he was quoted as saying by the German-language publication.

Separately, yesterday UBS unveiled its agenda for the 29 April annual general meeting, with voting conducted by proxy because in-person meetings are currently barred because of the pandemic. Nathalie Rachou and Mark Hughes are nominated for election to the board of directors. David Sidwell, Isabelle Romy and Robert W Scully will not stand for re-election, UBS said in a statement earlier this week. 

As previously communicated, UBS proposes an ordinary dividend of SFr0.73 (gross) in cash per share for the financial year 2019.

Ermotti joined UBS in 2011 and prior to that, was group deputy CEO at UniCredit, the Italian banking group, where he was responsible for its corporate and investment banking arm. He started his career at Merrill Lynch in 1987 in a variety of roles.